𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 · 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧

~"run."~

"We should start sleeping in the trees," I tell Bellamy.

"Won't we...fall out?" Bellamy answers.

I stop walking and give him a disbelieving look. "We happen to have a rope, and I happen to know how to tie a few basic knots."

"Oh, yeah," Bellamy says.

I roll my eyes. "You'd be lost without me."

Bellamy kicks me in the shin. I punch him in the back. He shoves me. I kick him in the calve, almost tripping him, but he catches himself. He pulls one of my braids.

"Okay, okay, truce," I say.

"You know, you'd be lost without me, too. That's why we need each other," Bellamy says, grinning.

I smile. "I wish I could argue that, but it's true." I come to a stop by a tree that's probably 40 or so feet high. "I really wish we had, like, binoculars or something," I comment.

"Why? Are you nearsighted?" Bellamy asks jokingly. Then, out of the sky, just as I'm about to hoist myself into the tree, a parachute descends from the sky.

"Well, there you go," Bellamy says as he hands over the binoculars we just received. "Thanks Mom. Or Finnick. Whatever. Hey, that's pretty cool. Do they just give us whatever we want? We're that loaded with sponsors? Hey, Finn, can I get a girlfriend?"

I punch Bellamy in the shoulder again. "We're in the Hunger Games, you idiot. Besides, haven't you gone through, what, 20 in the last year?"

"Twenty-one," Bellamy says mournfully. "There's nobody left in my District."

"Oh, poor baby," I comment, rolling my eyes. I pull myself up unto the branches, and start climbing. I stop about 30 feet up, not wanting to push it. I take out the binoculars and peer out into the fading light, searching the forest. I can see for what feels like miles with these binoculars. Then I spot them. 

I descend down the tree again, and hand the binoculars back over to Bellamy, who puts them in his backpack. "They're at the entrance of the woods, waiting behind some bushes," I report to Bellamy.

"Great hiding spot. Very creative," Bellamy comments. "Could you see what Kaia looks like?"

"You got her right arm, but-" I begin.

"She's a leftie," Bellamy finishes. "Did I at least get her right arm good?"

"She's got it bandaged, so I mean, at least you broke the skin," I tell him positively.

Bellamy rolls her eyes. "Why hasn't a sponsor gotten her something?"

"Medicine like that is expensive. I don't think she has enough sponsors." 

"Because we have them all? Like in Finnick's games?"

"Yeah." I answer. I'm sure this doesn't exactly endear us to them. "Well, we can go around them and leave, if you want, once it's dark out."

"We should move on. Plus, it'll piss them off once they realize."

As soon as he says this, I feel a faint tremor in the ground.

"What the..." Bellamy says as we squint deeper into the forest.

A crowd of animals including rabbits, deer, and other things are stampeding down towards us. I only need to catch a glimpse of what they're running from to do the same.

"Run." Is all I say to Bellamy.

We turn and bolt.

"What the hell was that?" Bellamy calls as we run.

"A mutt. What else could it be?" I call back. "Cut to the right. We've got to go around them."

We cut to the right, weaving through trees to avoid where Silk, Kaia, and Reed are waiting for us.

I hear animals screeching with what surely must be death. 

I could only catch a glimpse, but from what I say, they have what looks to be a wolf body attached to an alligator head. The speed that they move with is unnatural. It suddenly seems pointless to avoid Silk, Kaia, and Reed, as they've no doubt heard the stampede and death cries of the animals.

I can feel the mutts, closer now, but the animals have inadvertently created a boundary between us and the mutts. 

As we break through the tree line, one of the mutts comes out of nowhere and leaps for me, alligator jaws closing around my backpack. Bellamy swings around and spears the mutt, cutting it's head clean off while screaming for me to run.

He doesn't have to tell me twice. 

We chuck our weapons across the river and toss the backpacks over, moving quickly before diving into the water.

I'm across in a matter of seconds, pulling myself up and onto dry land. Bellamy's head pops up out of the water just as a mutt dives in the water after him. I grab him, high on adrenaline, and pull him part of the way up. He's almost on land when the mutt comes up out of the water and catches onto his leg.

Bellamy screams.

I keep pulling, Bellamy trying too, but the mutt won't let go, and now he's joined by more mutts. One catching onto his other leg, another onto his side. I can feel him slipping, but I refuse to let go. I won't let him go. I can't.

"GO!" Bellamy screams. "I'M DEAD, CALLYN, BUT YOU'RE NOT! NOW GO!"

But I don't. I keep pulling, trying to get him up.

I can't lose him. I can't. I can't. I can't. 

Bellamy's face is full of pain as he uses the last of his strength to shove me and send me flying from the water's edge. 

And that's the last thing he does. Save me.

I only catch a glimpse of him before he's dragged underneath the water.

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hey loves.

that chapter physically hurt me to write. like, my heart is actually in a knot.

xx

maddie

(am i the only one who really loved Bellamy?)